September 2011

Australians with severe or profound disability are extensive users of professional health services. This high use is associated with a high prevalence of multiple long-term health conditions, and comorbidity of mental disorders and physical conditions (AIHW 2010). Severe or profound disability...

In recent years, the internet has become an essential tool for living. More people are using internet-based communications to stay in touch with friends and family, conduct business and access information.

Older people with low internet skills are unable to conduct business...

On September the 8th, the Australian government announced changes to its Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme (PSWPS). In broadening and deepening Australia’s primary development-orientated migration scheme, this move demonstrated a commitment to improving the development impact of Australian migration policy. As such, it is in...

The field of Australian higher education has changed, is changing and is about to change, repositioned in relation to other 'fields of power'. It is a sector now well defined by its institutional groupings and by their relative claims to selectivity and exclusivity,...

The World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business reports have been ranking countries since 2006. However, do improvements in rankings generate greater foreign direct investment inflows? This study is the first to test such a proposition empirically with Arellano-Bond dynamic panel estimators using the official rankings...

The Henry Report spelt out a series of tax reforms that would increase environmental and social sustainability, writes Josh Dowse in Inside Story. It’s great ammunition for a debate that needs a fresh start

In this public lecture at Swinburne University, Gary Banks, Chairman of the Productivity Commission, discusses the Productivity Commission's independence which underpins its operations, integrity and, ultimately, its contribution to better policy outcomes.

The quality of patent filings has fallen dramatically over the past two decades. The rush to protect even minor improvements is overburdening patent offices and reduces the potential for breakthrough inventions, according to the Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2011.

This Issues Paper presents a preliminary framework for a 10-year health and medical research strategy for NSW. It identifies a series of options to address the issues facing health and medical research in NSW.

Sara Phillips the ABC's Online Environment Editor takes us to a major international conference on energy. And why Germany's decision to ditch nuclear could be bad news for the environment's immediate future.

Peter Hayes, Professor, RMIT University and Executive Director of the Nautilus Institute and Scott Bruce, Director of the Nautilus Institute, San Francisco assess that North Korea's options for a nuclear strike are severely constrained—so much so that the only credible use of the...

This paper provides an analysis of the results of the 2011 New South Wales election. It provides summaries of the elections for both chambers, analysis of Legislative Assembly results both before and after the distribution of preferences, as well as a summary of...

The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) or Footprints in Time is the first large-scale longitudinal survey in Australia to focus on the development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) children.

Senator John Faulkner gives the annual Archives lecture reflecting on the history of the labour movement in Australia. This talk was recorded at The Australian National University on 15 September 2011.

His talk also opened the 'labour history and its people' conference hosted by...

There is a widespread concern amongst librarians that Google Search and Wikipedia are making library reference services and even library collections redundant. There is however, little research on the types of subjects that people look up on Google, Wikipedia and library catalogues. This exploratory analysis...

This report presents information on public and private sector medical indemnity claims for 2008-09. There were 9,173 medical indemnity claims open at some point during the year, including 5,072 from the public sector and 4,101 from the private sector. The main clinician specialties allegedly involved...

This report describes the current situation of health leadership and management capacity at the sub-divisional level in Fiji. Fiji has a good standard of health with about 70–80% of the population having access to Primary Health Care, but now faces significant challenges with increasing rates...

education.au was a shared company of the Ministries of Education and Training from each of the States, Territories and the Commonwealth. It provided innovative technology solutions for education and training, primarily for use by educators in the key sectors of the education system....

Education.au was a shared company of the Ministries of Education and Training from each of the States, Territories and the Commonwealth. It provided innovative technology solutions for education and training, primarily for use by educators in the key sectors of the education system. Education.au...

The ADF's current force posture is the result of a series of decisions made when the world was quite different from today. It's therefore appropriate to have another look at the match of resources to strategic need.

Ultimately, any future decision to move sizeable ADF force elements - especially to remote locations - would have to be based on a strong business case for improved operational effectiveness, explains Andrew Davies.

315 people drowned in Australian waterways between 1st July 2010 and 30th June 2011. Drowning deaths across Australia have increased for the third year in a row and have jumped 11% on the 5 year average.

The koala is an iconic Australian native marsupial that has a very limited diet. It can only eat certain trees – predominantly eucalypts – that contain particular leaf chemistry (such as high levels of nitrogen) and moisture. The koala’s habitat and food trees have been...

Dr. Toby Carroll discusses the evolution of development programs by institutions such as the World Bank and its subsidiary the International Finance Corporation, and scrutinises the outcomes of recent strategies involving public-private partnerships and explicitly pro-market approaches. With host Elizabeth Lopez.

In this Lunchbox/Soapbox, journalist Paul Cleary expands on his polemic on the insidious effects of Australia’s mining boom. He takes on our dependence on digging stuff out of the ground and sending it overseas, labelling it “generational theft”.

This UK report looks at how communities can lead meaningful change in their neighbourhoods? What approaches to stimulating and supporting community-led action work best in different areas? How can government and funders catalyse locally-led innovation in a way that achieves impact at any kind of...

Most Australians with a mental illness receive little support or understanding at work – yet having a ‘mentally healthy workplace’ with positive, supportive attitudes to mental illness is the most important factor in successfully keeping a job and contributing to the workforce....

The United States, its allies and the Iraqi Government will need to make some difficult decisions if they are to maintain hard won security gains in Iraq. In the wake of coordinated and deadly al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) attacks in and around Baghdad,...

Feed-in Tariffs (FiT) for residential photovoltaic solar technologies are available in most Australian jurisdictions. Financial incentives under FiT are in addition to those provided by the Small-Scale Renewable Energy Scheme which forms part of the national 20% Renewable Energy Target. Little attention has been paid...

The internet is awash with misinformation, manipulated identities, fake reviews, and dishonest comments. Politicians use astroturfing. So do businesses and marketing firms. Beware—it's infecting everyone.

The Commissioner of Children and Young People has released a new online resource that provides a socio-demographic profile of Western Australia’s 500,000 children and young people. It describes the State’s population of under 18 year-olds through current data on population distribution, diversity and family characteristics,...

Australian governments of both political stripes have responded pragmatically and effectively to the rise of China, the relative decline of the United States and the increased assertiveness of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). When they have made mistakes, the Howard, Rudd and Gillard...

The audit found evidence of good outcomes for recipients and that all stakeholders are enthusiastic about the results of ISPs and their ongoing potential. However, benefits are not consistently delivered.

Disability services in Victoria have been undergoing major reform since the early 1990s. A...

Evidence of coastal ecosystem degradation in the Great Barrier Reef has been linked with increased land-based runoff of suspended solids, nutrients and pesticides resulting from clearing and agricultural land use.

The long term survival of Australia’s world heritage listed Great Barrier Reef is under...

As Federal Parliament has begun debating the creation of the Parliamentary Budget Office, a unit designed to independently cost the election promises and policies for all parties and independents, Richard Mulgin details the proposal in his article...

"The future is in our hands, and it will be defined by the way we handle the current minerals boom. Get it wrong, and we falter. Get it right, and we set the nation up for decades to come." Prime Minister, the Hon. Julia Gillard...

The federal Government recently announced that it will go ahead with a National Disability Insurance Scheme. But what will this scheme really mean for people with disability and their carers throughout Australia?

To answer those and other questions, Disability and Race Discrimination Commissioner,...

Changes to the remuneration of medical practitioners are currently being considered in Australia and this paper discusses financial incentives in healthcare markets and their effects on health professionals' behaviour.

After defining incentives, the paper focuses on the design of incentive schemes for the health...

Until recently, the usual measure of disadvantage in Australia has been the level of income poverty. The Henderson poverty line has traditionally been the most widely used indicator, measuring the disposable income required to support the needs of a family comprising two adults and two...

Before people can access key aged care programs, they need to obtain approval for program eligibility from an Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT). The assessment teams also make recommendations on the preferred setting for receiving care; that is, in the person’s home or in a...

This report by Dr Augustine Asante and John Hall describes the current situation of health leadership and management capacity in Papua New Guinea. PNG has some of the worst health indicators in the Asia-Pacific region and unless health delivery is drastically scaled up,...

Examining the barriers to the provision of adequate care and support to people with disabilities in Australia, this paper proposes a high-level outline for a National Disability Insurance Scheme and improved coverage within existing accident insurance programs.

The Census is the largest survey of workers that Australian unions have ever conducted and is around thirty times larger than the standard national opinion polls used by the media and political parties.

Has the entire offshore processing system seen its last days asks Binoy Kampmark ?

.

Activists, pro-refugee advocates and a few politicians were puzzled when the Federal Government decided to affect the ‘Malaysian Solution’, a refugee policy resembling the Howard Government’s Pacific...